​​​LIEUT. COLONEL CLAUDE E. FERTIG

​​​LIEUT. COLONEL CLAUDE E. FERTIG US army helped forum the guerrilla army on Panay, Philippine Islands. He was born on 20 July 1905 in La Junta, Colorado. He attended La Junta public schools and graduated from the Colorado School of Mines. Like his brother COLONEL WENDELL WELBY FERTIG who preceded him at the engineering school in Golden, he enrolled in the Reserve Officers Training Corps and was graduated a second lieutenant in the Officers’ Reserve. Claude Fertig was also a mining engineer in the Philippines, and was on Masbate when the Japanese tide of war began sweeping over the Islands. He was called to active duty on 20 January 1942, at the age of 37. Just as quickly as orders could reach him, and with the rank of Major was assigned to the 61st (Filipino) Division. Working feverishly, he directed the evacuation of equipment to Panay for construction of airfields and defenses. The Japanese arrived in February but the gallant 61st held them off for five months before the enemy, considerably reinforced, could occupy the coastal towns of Panay. Col. Fertig was accompanied by his wife all this time, and now a trial of extreme hardship and danger faced the young American couple. They made their way into the hills where Fertig, with a handful of Filipino officers, began the organization of the famous Guerrilla Army of Panay—18,000 regular soldiers who maintained the offensive against the Japanese s for thirteen months. Col. Fertig, as Chief of the Guerrilla Engineers, concentrated on the colossal task of building up fuel, communications and ordnance systems. From a sunken gunboat divers recovered cases of artillery shells for their powder. With much labor and ingenious methods, land mines with bamboo triggers were manufactured; mortars were made from pipes; ammunition, grenades, mortar shells, and small arms shell jackets were machined from brass and iron rods on equipment removed beforehand or snatched from enemy warehouses.

The very first of the Philippines guerrilla groups to contact Gen. MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia by radio (November 1942), on Panay meanwhile not only held 95 percent of their island, but also trained troops, raised food, gathered weather data, and sabotaged the enemy. In September, 1943, heavy Japanese reinforcements poured onto Panay and began a wholesale massacre of persons even suspected of helping the guerrillas. But the war continued with the shadowy army striking swiftly, demolishing bridges and strongholds, and scorching the earth wherever it retreated. Susan Beatrice, the daughter of Col. and Mrs. Fertig, was born in January 1944 in the jungle interior of Panay. The mother was compelled to seek safety inland from the Japanese searching parties raiding remote villages, and escaped capture through the loyalty of her Filipino servants and friends, who faced death rather than divulge her whereabouts. As the massacres continued, the guerrillas eased their fighting in order to prevent reprisals on helpless natives, and concentrated on gathering intelligence. On 20 March 1944, some few remaining Americans were evacuated by submarine to Australia, where Col. Fertig and his wife were hospitalized for several months. The Colonel’s greatly needed knowledge and ability were put to use as soon as it was possible to do so. He was assigned to the Allied Geographic Section and in April 1945 became Commanding Officer of the U. S. Geographic Section, GHQ, AFPAC, supervising the compiling of topographical invasion intelligence for the Philippines and Japan. The great tide of victory reached its crest and, his work done, Col. Fertig returned home on 10 December, 1945. He was reunited with his wife, Laverne, and his daughter in La Junta, the home also of his mother, Mrs. Welby Lee Fertig. Among the numerous deserved decorations and honors falling to the renowned guerrilla fighter from Colorado was the Legion of Merit, the citation which reads in part: he performed his duties with outstanding skill and distinction at all times By his unfaltering determination and superior geographical knowledge, Colonel Fertig made an important contribution to the success of military operations in the Philippine Islands.” 

Source:

1- THE FIGHTING MEN OF Colorado – Asiatic-Pacific Theater World War Two – 1948